Democratic State Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell is the first Muslim member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, but her tenure is coming to an unceremonious end.
Prosecutors are charging Johnson-Harrell with stealing $500,000 from a charity for mentally ill, perjury, and tampering with public records.
The West Philadelphia Democrat won a special election in March following the forced resignation of Democrat Vanessa L. Brown after Brown was convicted of corruption and bribery.
Despite growing up in poverty and despair, including a family life plagued by substance abuse, evidence suggests Johnson-Harrell’s empathy for the less fortunate was superficial, at best.
The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra reports:
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, announced the charges on Wednesday which came at the conclusion of an investigation into her operation of a non-profit, Motivations Education & Consultation Associates (MECA).
In a statement, Shapiro said that Johnson-Harrell turned herself in on Wednesday to law enforcement officials, and “is taking responsibility for her crimes, plans to plead guilty, and has agreed to resign from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives effective December 13th.”
The statement from Shapiro’s office noted just a few of the items that Johnson-Harrell allegedly spent the stolen funds on:
- $5,500 on multiple fox fur coats,
- $16,000 on vacations to Mexico (twice), Atlanta, and Ocean City, MD,
- $2,065.95 to cover past-due Porsche payments,
- $6,976 for designer clothing,
- $3,000 for an overdue IRS tax bill,
- $3,830 in tuition for relatives,
- $3,200 to Philadelphia Gas Works,
- $4,741.20 for City of Philadelphia taxes, and
- $7,979.54 to cover a restitution payment for a 2014 criminal conviction where Johnson-Harrell failed to pay unemployment compensation tax.
AAN Staff
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